


Soggy Clothes and Breezeblocks

by superdino (crystalrainwing)



Series: Nothing’s Gonna Scare Us Now [3]
Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer, The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hugh is only here for like one minute, POV Simon Westwood, so there’s not much of that, sorry :/ - Freeform, sorry dudes I can’t actually write relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27340243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalrainwing/pseuds/superdino
Summary: Simon has heard of a prodigy who can tell fortunes, so he goes to check it out.(Takes place between chapter 3 and 4 of Somebody Catch My Breath)
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium & Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium/Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden
Series: Nothing’s Gonna Scare Us Now [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976722
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	Soggy Clothes and Breezeblocks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wellihaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellihaz/gifts).



> ohh wow. this didn’t turn out as long as I hoped but okay. I hope everyone is in character, if they’re not PLEASE leave comment bc I don’t know the renegades characters as well. (there’s like 2 people reading this who am I even talking to) if they’re not acting right I want to fix it <3  
> warnings: nothing much, klaus is still homeless, also he still looks like a kid and kinda flirts a little with Simon (in like a joke-y way, but that’s not obvious to Simon) which is of course uncomfortable  
> (also thanks to fateserpent88 on tumblr and my little sister for their help on this one)

Simon had heard some interesting rumors about a prodigy who could tell your future - or, at the very least, give you extremely relevant life advice or something.

So, of course he went to go find them. He could use all the life advice he could get. 

It was almost spring, now, and slushy snow rested in patches on the sidewalks; it soaked through Simon’s boots. He was hoping to go unnoticed, wearing a huge hoodie with the hood up and soft black pants instead of anything that might give away who he was. 

The mysterious fortune-teller might run off if they knew that it was the  _ Dread Warden;  _ he’d heard that they were a bit flighty.

It bothered Simon, a little, that he knew so little about them. No one with any kind of future-seeing abilities was in any records the Renegades had, and he’d never heard of such a person before. 

But he knew, at least, where to find them - the alley between the old Mexican restaurant (now used for storage, mostly) and a place that sold lightbulbs. A good strategic location for someone hoping to use their abilities to get money without being in danger; the alley lead to most of the rest of the city but the paths were rarely used, and in a place with plenty of people but not really any  _ crowds.  _

Simon kicked a small rock up the path, keeping his eyes on it until he reached it and kicked it again. This time, it went off the sidewalk, and he scuffed his boots on the ground. The slush was  _ very  _ tempting to splash, but he refrained.  _ Give the man a medal, thank you, thank you.  _

It wasn’t too long before he got to the place.

Set back a few feet from the sidewalk was a cardboard box with a few cinder blocks around it (probably to keep it from blowing away?), painted a deep black with TAROT CARD READINGS in neon turquoise across the front. 

Sitting behind the box was a child.

His hair was dark and curly and matted, like he hadn’t had a shower in days (or longer); it also looked in need of a good haircut. His shirt was bright and patterned and ragged, and he wore a long and dark jacket over it. He was talking and gesturing wildly, but no one was near him.

No one had told Simon that the fortune-teller was just a kid, a little kid, who was probably homeless.

He should leave. God, he couldn’t be contributing towards this kind of shit. Kids - kids needed to be kids, to grow up and play, not have to worry about affording food and finding a warm place to sleep.

He’d offer the kid a place with the Renegades. His abilities seemed useful enough; he’d fit right in, too.

Before Simon could even start towards the kid, he started waving Simon over. He hesitantly walked over and sat on a crate set nearby. 

“Dude, the cards are freaking the fuck out about you, so you must be really important,” the kid said, tossing a deck of thick cards from hand to hand. The movements were a little too perfect - maybe he was telekinetic, too. Interesting combination.

Wait, were the cards sentient or something? Freaking out about him?

“Little old  _ me?  _ I’m flattered!”

The kid snorted. “Yeah, you should be. They’ve never done this before. You know, usually I just do one card for strangers, but for  _ you,  _ pretty boy, I’ll do two.” He winked and kept shuffling the cards.

_ Nope. Nooo flirting with adults. You’re a tiny child.  _ Simon shifted uncomfortably, but the kid didn’t seem to notice; he just kept talking.

“So, who are you anyways? What kind of powers have you got? What’s your name? How’s life, mysterious person who got my cards riled up like this?” 

“Uh…”

“Don’t be shy, now! Talk to me!” This was said with another wink, and well, if he answered maybe the weird flirting would stop.

“What makes you think I have a power?”

“I guess you could say… I’ve got a sixth sense!” At this, he started laughing uncontrollably before looking to empty air on the right and snapping, “Shut up, Ben! It was funny!”

Ok. No time to worry about that. None of his business anyways. 

“Well, I can turn invisible.” Would that give him away?

“Uh-huh. What’s your name, though?”

“Uh, Simon.” Surely, now, the kid would see right through him. It could  _ not  _ be more obvious. But apparently not - no recognition, or excitement (or fear) came over his face. 

“Well, hello, Simon! I’m Four,”  _ he is at  _ least  _ ten, maybe as old as 14; or is Four his  _ name, “- and your fortune looks really shitty!”

He hadn’t even noticed the kid (Four?) setting out the two cards. He leaned over so he could see them: one was a dark-haired boy holding what looked like a bouncy ball in one hand and staring intensely at him, with numbers overlayed in complex equations; the other was a man whose eyes were closed, looking almost peaceful but contrasted horribly by his bloody and torn chest. 

Both were gorgeously illustrated and looked hand-painted, and both had writing at the bottom in some kind of language he didn’t understand but made his head hurt and his vision swim when he looked at them.

Four picked up the cards and squinted at the writing at the bottom. “So usually I don’t tell people what their cards actually say, but their reaction to you is pretty wild, so: this one says DISASTER (Simon could feel the capital letters) and this one says LOVE. So if I had to guess, and I’m not guessing because these pictures mean more to me than they would to you, I’d say that at some big event, there’s going to be an... unexpected and probably fatal something to someone you love. Most likely a partner, probably in the next ten months. Are you married, or dating anyone?”

Simon felt like his ears were ringing.  _ Hugh.  _

It took a moment for the question to register. “Uh, y… yes.” His voice was whisper-soft, but the kid didn’t seem to care. His eyes were intense, now, captivating Simon. They were green, he noticed absently. 

“You have to protect them.” Four grabbed his hands and squeezed them, he looked almost angry and terribly desperate. “You have to protect them,” he repeated.

Simon quickly nodded. “I’ll keep him safe. Do - do you know anything else?”

Four shook his head. “The cards reveal only as much as they wish. I want to help more, but I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Simon swallowed. “Okay. Okay, thank you for the warning.” He pulled his hands away from Four’s ice cold ones, reaching into his pocket for the money he’d brought. 

He handed it over to the kid, who quickly stuffed it in one of the many pockets on his huge coat. Simon waited for him to say something else, but he just grabbed the two cards that still lay on the table and shuffled them back into the thick deck before flicking his hand and sending them swirling in intricate patterns, hovering a few inches above the box.

There was no  _ real  _ reason to believe that Four was telling the truth and had actually been able to catch a sort of glimpse of Simon’s future, but - it felt like he was. Simon stood up and started walking back home on autopilot, his mind full of swirling thoughts. 

When he got back, he had no memory of the walk. He walked through the door feeling as if he were in a dream.

“Simon! You’re back!” Hugh called from the next room over, and Simon could hear his footsteps as he walked into the front room. When he looked at Simon, though, the gentle smile dropped from his face immediately. “What’s wrong?”

Simon walked into the living room and sat down heavily, setting his face in his hands. He could feel the couch dip as Hugh sat next to him, setting a gentle hand on his shoulder and pulling him closer. “Hey, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“I… went to the fortune teller everyone is talking about.”

He could hear Hugh’s surprised breath. “Okay. What’d they say, then?”

“God, he was just a kid. Just a little kid. Younger than Adrian. He - he told me that you’re going to die, if I can’t keep you safe.” His breath hitched in his throat. 

“You think he’s telling the truth?”

Simon nodded.

“Well, it’s pretty hard to hurt me, right? So we can just watch out for the things that can. I’ll be more careful what I eat from now on, can you think of anything else besides poison?” 

He couldn’t, so he said so.

“Alright. See, everything’s going to be okay. We’ll be okay.”

Simon wished he could bring himself to believe it. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope u enjoyed. gonna go scream now  
> edit: hey so. so who caught the reference to The Sixth Sense. good movie u should watch it


End file.
